Secrecy of Sheffield Council report on Graves Park nurseries row condemned as “quite shocking” by campaigner

Caroline Dewar, who chairs the Friends of Graves Park, appeared at a meeting of the council’s charity trustee sub-committee yesterday (June 23) to ask questions about the future of Norton Nurseries. The group have been working and raising money to return parts of the disused nurseries site to parkland but have been frustrated by the council’s use of the area for a parks and countryside department depot.

The Friends have successfully complained to the Charity Commission that this use of the nurseries contravenes the Charities Act 2011 because it breaches the terms of the charitable trust that owns the park in the name of the people of Sheffield.

The council is sole trustee of the trust and the sub-committee was set up to oversee the charitable trusts that gifted many parks to the city.

As previously reported, all three appendixes of a report to the sub-committee about Norton Nurseries were restricted from view by the press and public. This was challenged by the Friends group and by members of the committee.

It became apparent that the first appendix was in fact a letter from the Charity Commission in response to a recent complaint by the Friends group. The Friends wrote opposing a temporary licence granted by the committee to the council to continue the depot operation, arguing that condones an illegal situation that has continued for eight years.

Disposal

The Friends say that the nurseries must be used solely for the benefit of the Graves Park charitable trust, not to aid the council in the rest of its operations.

The depot is used to store waste collected from Graves Park and 35 other parks and open spaces before it is taken off for disposal. It also serves as a place to store a lot of parks department vehicles and heavy machinery.

The council said it has struggled to find a workable replacement for all the depot operations because of the large amount of land needed.

The other restricted committee documents give independent legal advice sought by the council about the Charity Commission letter and provide an initial assessment of what options are available to deal with the situation.

Committee chair Coun Richard Williams said he wanted the discussion to take place in public as much as possible.

Council deputy leader Coun Fran Belbin said: “I’m pleased that we’re having this discussion in open session, I don’t believe there is any justification for having it behind closed doors.

Solution

“I have made no secret of my preferred solution to this issue to other members, to officers and to the Friends of Graves Park – for the benefit of the Charity Commission, let me state it very publicly.

“Since joining the committee I’ve been to Graves Park several times and looked at the fantastic work of the Friends on Chantreyland Meadow and arboretum, amongst other great projects, and I would like to see that work continue as the Friends have planned.

“That means at least some of the land that is currently occupied by the operations depot would have to be would have to be vacated in order to return it to parkland.

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“However, it is also clear that there will be costs to the charity in doing this, as at least part of the operations depot, which services Graves Park as well as other parks, has to go somewhere and this will incur costs.

“Members of this committee cannot responsibly take the decision to return part of the area to parkland without understanding what these costs are and the impact they will have on the Graves Park charity finances.”

She said it was frustrating that committee members do not yet have answers to their request made almost a year ago for council officers to bring forward a paper setting out the alternatives for the depot and the financial impact on the charitable trust of all proposals.

Options

Coun Belbin said that the temporary licence for the depot, which she supported, was made in order for that information to be collated. She did not want to have to contemplate voting to extend it in December just because the situation had still not been clarified.

Council director of leisure, parks and libraries Lisa Firth said that staff are considering all the options open to them and should be in a position to bring forward at least most of the costings by the committee’s September meeting.

Coun Douglas Johnson, who voted against two of the committee report recommendations, referred to the Charity Commission letter. He said: “Like Coun Belbin, I can’t see any reason why that can’t be out in the open and it should be in due course.”

He said the officers need to work through the legal advice and come up with a response to the Charity Commission so that the issue can move forward.

He described the handling of the issue as “a dog’s dinner” but added: “We can see that the bowl is beginning to be cleaned up.”

Shocking

Caroline Dewar said after the meeting: “This is quite shocking. One appendix is a letter from the Charity Commission to Sheffield City Council – it says that in the report.

“They’ve kept it secret because of ‘legal privilege’. Aside from as I understand it they can’t do that because they can’t keep that information from the beneficiaries – and the beneficiaries are the people of Sheffield – it can’t be commercially sensitive, it’s a letter from the Charity Commission.”

“It just beggars belief that this is what they’ve come up with and then they try and use the excuse of legal privilege – I think it is outrageous.

“I’ve written to the Charity Commission already. This is getting silly.”

Ms Dewar said the council are wasting time by failing to facilitate the return of further parts of the nurseries to parkland, which the Friends group have been pushing them to do for eight years.